The Stable Boy
by ReginasThief
Summary: Regina falls madly in love with Robin, the boy that works in the stables for her parents, but she's afraid to tell her mother because she just wants her to be a queen. Will she find the courage to tell her? Can Regina Mills really change her fate? I suck at summaries. just watch 1x18 lol


**hey guys so here I am with the millionth outlaw queen long-fic. I don't know why, ideas just keep coming at me and hit me like a bus. I have no idea what this story is, it's kind of crazy but I love it in an indescribable way. **

**First of all I want to tell you that yes, in this story I'm replacing Daniel with Robin. so no, Daniel never existed. with that, I'm not saying that I hate Daniel or something like that, I really don't. I just had this crazy idea running through my mind and I turned it into words, as usual.**

**also know that english is not my first language so you have to be a bit patient with all the mistakes (if you're not, I'm so sorry but I think you should leave cause this is my english, Idk how to do any better).  
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**as you noticed, this chapter is a little bit short, so that you can tell me if you like it so far and if I should continue :) please let me know! Enjoy!**

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><p>Regina Mills had worn her favourite cloak and got out of the castle, without even warning her mother. She had ran into her father while she did that, but she didn't seem to worry about it. On the contrary, she smiled at him and he rolled his eyes, returning his daughter's smile. <em>Gods, that girl runs like the wind,<em> he thought to himself, _and nothing's going to stop her._

She had crossed the whole, huge garden where she used to play since she was a little girl and ran into the stable, which had recently became her favorite place in the world.

"well, hello Rocinante! Look what I have for you." she said happily, taking a huge bunch of carrots out of her bag. She started feeding the horse that she already loved so much; it had just arrived at the palace, it was actually a present from her father for her eighteenth birthday and Regina was enthusiast. He had also promised that he would teach her how to ride, but deep down she knew that, even if his intentions were good, there was always going to be someone preventing him: her mother. Cora. She had hated that horse since the moment she saw it: _not another distraction, Regina. A lady doesn't ride. Men ride. _

But Regina didn't care. She loved to think that maybe, someday, she was going to ride her beautiful horse; she spent all the time she could with Rocinante, she fed him, even though she was perfectly aware that there were people paid to do such. She didn't care, that was _her _horse, not anyone else's.

"he must really like you." she heard a voice coming from her back and jumped on her seat, turning immediately. A boy was right there, leaning against the door frame, arms crossed on his chest and a sweet smile on his face. It was dark in the stable, but as far as she could see, he must have been really handsome: his dark blonde hair, the beard that framed his face, making that cute pair of dimples he had even more attractive... _wow. _She hadn't got to see many guys in her life, but the one she had right in front of her in that moment was quite her type.

The only thing she still couldn't see were his eyes, so she prayed he got closer, so she could manage to do that.

"your highness." he bowed his head and Regina saw him bending his leg, as if he was ready to kneel, so she hurried to stop him:

"please, I'm not a queen." she smiled politely.

"but you're a royal. Please, allow me." if Regina had prevented him from kneeling, nothing was going to stop him from getting closer -just like she had wanted him to do before- and taking her hand to kiss her smooth knuckles. It was just a brief and slight contact, but the way he had not interrupted the eye-contact once, as his lips slid for the first time on her skin... it made her heard beat wildly. Like never before.

"I'm Hood. Robin Hood, at your service."

"and I'm just Regina." her smile was sweet, polite. She wanted everything but for him to think that she was just another spoiled brat. She was nothing of that sort, she just wanted him to treat her like anyone else. No more, no less. "please, just call me Regina."

"okay, _just Regina, _I'm just Robin." finally he smiled again, making those dimples that she liked so much reappear. The fact that she still couldn't see the real color of his eyes intrigued her even more, it made her smile in amusement. She giggled:  
>"I've never seen you here at the palace..."<p>

"oh yeah, well... it appears that your mother, Cora, she hired me to take care of the horses. I'm... I'm just a stable boy."

Oh no, he was far more than that. Regina knew it, _felt _it. And it didn't matter what her mother told her, she wasn't interested in becoming queen or princess, or countess. She just wanted to find happiness, love, _true love. _And that guy... that guy intrigued her.

"and I'm just a girl who loves horses. We're not so different."

"oh, yes, we are. You... you're a royal." he looked down

"stop saying that!" she pouted, just like a baby and Robin seemed to think about his reaction for a moment: he didn't know whether to take her seriously or to laugh at her pout. He decided for the second as he realized he had been holding back a laugh for far too long. She laughed with him:

"okay, okay, sorry! So... _girl who loves horses,_ have your super duper rich parents already taught you how to ride?" he asked, approaching Rocinante, stroking his face with very slow and regular movements. Regina was speechless, impressed by how he could make everything so fascinating to her eyes, even the simplest thing:  
>"no." she admitted "my father promised me he would hire a teacher soon, but I suspect that my mother is keeping him from doing it." she looked down, staring at the hay beneath her expensive shoes that she had accidentally got dirty with mud as she had ran there. <em>Damn it. <em>Her mother was going to kill her.

"how come?"

"well..." she hesitated. She wasn't sure she wanted to confess everything to that boy. After all, she barely knew him and... he worked for her mother. No one could guarantee her that she could trust him, that he wasn't going to report everything to Cora. "I-I... I don't think I can..."

He saw her blushing as she tried to find the right words not to offend him. He smiled bitterly:  
>"I got it. You don't trust me. I understand, everybody lies and we just met." he searched for her eyes and, as he found them, his smile turned sweet again "But please, allow me to break the ice between you and Rocinante." he seemed to find his joy again as he invited her to get closer. Regina wanted to protest, tell him that she didn't need anyone to "break the ice" with <em>her<em> horse, that she had been feeding him every single day for a week and he seemed to like her already, but he didn't give her the time to say anything: he took her hand gently, making her heart stop for a second. _Oh my..._ his touch. There was something about his touch that sent her brain in total blackout. She couldn't even formulate a thought, she couldn't concentrate, or focus. Something sent a shock throughout her whole body when their skins came to contact:

"open your hand." she heard him whispering and she swallowed hard, obeying. She felt the horse searching for the palm of her hand, then its tongue slipped along her skin and she couldn't help but laugh. She felt some kind of a tickling and blamed the animal, but she realized only after a few seconds that it had spread throughout her whole body, when Robin had slid his hand down her arm. She blushed slightly and smiled at him.

"that's it. Now you have his trust. I recommend, always keep your hand wide open, otherwise he'll exchange it for a carrot." again, those dimples. Regina laughed at his joke, _so much,_ and regretted it when she realized it wasn't even that funny. She blushed: the last thing she wanted him to think was that she was being shy with him. Cause she was not. Of course she was not.

"thank you for... breaking the ice." and maybe she wasn't referring just to her and Rocinante.

He smiled for the millionth time: "it's nothing. It's quite clear that he likes you. Also, you do seem very good with horses, it would be a shame if you couldn't ride this wonderful one." he caressed Rocinante's hair again and there Regina understood: she could trust that boy. She could totally trust him. The way he had treated her, encouraged her, even if unconsciously; it had been enough for her to understand his real intentions. He wasn't going to report their conversation to her mother, he was never going to betray her. He had earned her trust, just like she had done with Rocinante.

"my mother thinks that... that it's silly. I just have to focus on the... pretty dresses, the behavior and how a real lady takes tea at five o'clock in the afternoon." she rolled her eyes at the thought, acting like a child for the second time, but this time Robin didn't laugh.

She had to feel terribly sad in living a life she didn't want, in doing things she didn't want to do and ignore the ones she liked, in order to follow her mother's interests. Also, she must have felt terribly alone all that time in that huge palace.

"I'm so sorry." he whispered, and it was the truth.

"yeah..." again, her eyes were stuck on the hay and her expensive, dirty shoes. It was then that she remembered her appointment:

"speaking of tea... I have to go. It's half past four and, if my mother sees me in this dirty dress she'll freak out." a bitter laugh filled the emptiness of that stable, while she walked to the door and crossed it, leaving Robin surrounded by the dark.

He couldn't let her go like that, with that sad smile and that melancholy, with the certainty that she was never going to mount the horse she was madly in love with. He couldn't let her go to sleep with sadness in her eyes; he had assigned himself the mission of making her happy, if only for a couple of minutes a day. He needed that girl to smile.

Why, he didn't even know, but she was so beautiful when she laughed, she had to do it more often, even if, in that case, he would have been jealous of whoever was with her to appreciate those smiles.

"wait!" he ran after her and, when Regina turned, she finally saw him for the first time in the sunlight. His hair was much lighter than it seemed in the dark of the stable, his dimples were even more attractive and his body -on which she hadn't focused before, just because she was curious of hearing him speak- was clearly stronger and sculpted for a guy of her age. He was surely older than her, but how much? She wasn't allowed to talk to strangers, let alone with older men.

And then, finally, she buried her eyes in his. Those eyes of which, for the first time, she was admiring the color. _Blue. _Blue like the sky, deep like the ocean. They were... they were...

"I can give you lessons. I can teach you how to ride." he smiled, but this time Regina was looking at that smile in its entirety. She felt her knees getting weak, as if they were made of jelly, the green one that her mother served instead of the dessert.

_Oh Gods, _was it going to be like that every time she spoke to a man? Or maybe he was somehow special? She didn't know, but her heart guided her mouth before the brain could stop it:  
>"I'd love to."<p>

She couldn't allow herself to lose him too. The only thing close to a friend she had ever had. That guy intrigued her, whether she liked to admit it or not, she wanted to spend more time with him, know him better and let him know her. She needed someone to talk to, to confide. A friend that wasn't her father.

She needed that pair of blue eyes and dimples that made her smile.


End file.
